Day Four: Phonology 1 – An overview

by celtaconfessions

In spite of my earlier posts reflecting on day four, I actually hadn’t realised how affected I was. I just came across evidence that I was probably at my lowest level on this day than at any other point in the course, as far as my mood and state of mind was concerned. I remember having experienced such a day, but thought it occurred a little later; however, this “evidence” points to this day, day four, as being that day in question. It was a combination of factors: the mounting pressure, my forgetting important details, the slaughter I had, the changing of class to be observed – the next day, Friday, I would be going to the intermediate class to observe before coming back to pre-intermediate on Monday to do a TP, plus because of the way things had progressed, I was changed from being first up to last again for Monday! I’d always felt that I was last more times than others and I couldn’t figure it out until I remembered this. Being first would meant I’d have had to do grammar, which my tutor didn’t want and his only solution was to put me last. Last to teach for ALL the TPs I did with this level. So, the combination of a multitude of negativities (and I haven’t mentioned them all) drove me to a near-breakdown.

No wonder I hadn’t wanted to talk about it at first!

On to this input session. I don’t remember much about it, and I doubt may trainees do either.

Copyright 2012 Chiew Pang

The aim was to give us an overview of pronunciation issues to consider. The stages of the input was as follows:

Possible problems students may have with pronunciation

Matching exercise: problems with terminology

Feedback on answers

How can we help students to improve their pronunciation visually and orally?

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4 Comments to “Day Four: Phonology 1 – An overview”

Hello 🙂 I’ve been lately reading your blog a lot, due to the fact that I’ve just started CELTA training myself-intensive course. (Had my 4th day today by the way-also did phonology). Regarding the first assignement, did you have to interview one student only? How exactly are we supposed to structure out 1000 word essay? Could you please help me? 😦 I’m soo stuck and my center provide no guidance whatsoever. Any help will be HUGELY appreciated.

I’m surprised to hear that your centre doesn’t give any guidance at all; surely, they’d give you a sample answer at least?

We had to interview the whole class. Basically, we kind of share our notes – we obviously didn’t have the time nor opportunity to interview ALL of them; each of us hone in on a few.

Structure?

Introduction: learners’ background. Where and for how long have they studied English? Have they learned any other languages? Have they lived or studied abroad? Give examples.

Motivation: what drives them? Why are they learning English? Give examples of intrinsic & extrinsic motivation. Here’s a good place to quote from some books. Are all the students equally motivated to learn? How is this reflected in the classroom? Give examples.

Learning styles. Another place to show that you have been reading. Quote! What’s the dominant learning style? Visual, Auditory or Kinaesthetic? Is there much variation among the students? As usual, give examples.

Learning preferences? Do they like certain activities more than others? Do they hate any? Again, examples!

Problems. Write about a couple of specific problems common to several students eg one language-related and one pronunciation-related. Offer solutions, which could be an activity or exercises. Don’t forget to credit all your references.

Finally, identify strengths and weaknesses of students. Give examples. Write about four students – 2 strong skills and 2 weak. For example, A could be strong in reading, B in writing, C weak in listening and D in speaking.

Conclusion: Will these students succeed as language learners? Do you think any will be more or less successful than the others? Why? What advice would you give to other trainees who are going to teach this class?

No my center have not provided us with any guidance at all, not even a sample answer, hence nobody knows how to approach it. We are only supposed ot pick one student, interview them (interviewed mine today) and get them to do a sample of written work for us to mark. And then based on that, we have to cover all the criteria you’ve just mentioned as well as focus on 2 of their grammar areas as well a 1 pronounciation area and presumably discuss them, although our assignment summary doesn’t make it very clear.) Hence the confusion… It’s all a bit of a mess really.